NP - St. Ralph Continues To Advance the Most Important Cause in American Politics, His Ego

[Mark Kohut]

well said.

On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 9:02 PM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:
> Just raise wages. Sure, a good plan, Mark.  Normally, the market drives
> wages higher as unemployment and slack are taken up during recovery, but,
> again, this is not a normal recovery, so the textbook model is useless. So,
> thinking out of the text, we need to raise wages anyway because wages will
> not go up even if the Fed keeps rates at zero for another 2 years and the
> unemployment rates is drive below the NAIRU, say to 2.5%. Wages won't budge.
> Why not? Because workers have no bargaining leverage in the new economy.
> It's that simple. While some minimum wage bargaining is having a small
> impact, the vast majority of workers have no leverage and can't collectively
> bargain for anything.  The public sectors are under assault from without and
> within. And they are being dragged to the Supreme Court, again:
>
>
> http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/us-usa-court-unions-idUSKCN0PA1PD20150630
>
> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 4:52 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> "pay to dig holes and fill them up" if necessary---Keynes, paraphrase.
>> Late capitalism is SO RICH
>> that maybe guaranteed money---guaranteed annual incomes---is the best
>> way to counterbalance
>> the movement of money to the biggest companies....a lot of which is
>> happening with low interest rates.
>> Somewhere the homeless or unemployed are being paid (I think 11.50 hr)
>> to pick up stuff in communities...
>> they're doing it. Just do it as you can and get a little 11.50
>> self-respect again.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 4:43 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > I meant to say: Print out free money and distribute it liberally, and
>> > the
>> > consumer demand will instantly reappear.
>> >
>> > On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 3:18 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> You haven't provided any rationale for your claim that raising interest
>> >> rates will increase demand.
>> >>
>> >> You are also wrong that "People who agreed with that textbook view have
>> >> been wrong about just about everything economic and financial since
>> >> 2009."
>> >> The textbook view was never given more than a weak try because of
>> >> Republican
>> >> opposition. But the US economy has improved the most in the World since
>> >> the
>> >> Recession because we at least shrugged off Austerity and tried a weak
>> >> Stimulus for a while (but for only a very short while).  Print out free
>> >> money and distribute it literally, and the consumer demand will
>> >> instantly
>> >> reappear.
>> >>
>> >> David Morris
>> >>
>> >> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 2:50 PM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> David, you would be right if we could open an economic textbook and
>> >>> make
>> >>> sense of the great contraction and QE, the broken Phillips Curve and
>> >>> etc.,
>> >>> but we can't. People who agreed with that texbookt view have been
>> >>> wrong
>> >>> about just about everything economic and financial since 2009. Low and
>> >>> negative rates and QE were supposed cause inflation, hyper-inflation
>> >>> even.
>> >>> It was supposed to send gold flying and commodities up up and away and
>> >>> the
>> >>> dollar down to the bottomless pit.
>> >>>
>> >>> In short, sir, with all do respect to you and your textbook view, you
>> >>> are
>> >>> dead wrong, Hope you didn't lose your ass.
>> >>>
>> >>> The Fed can't deliver a robust economy.  A robust economy must be
>> >>> driven
>> >>> by the consumer. But consumer, with the exception of the recent
>> >>> appetite for
>> >>> new automobiles, is not consuming. Even after the great de-leveraging,
>> >>> and
>> >>> zero rates, animal spirits are dead in the water. Raising interest
>> >>> rates
>> >>> will get the consumer consuming, otherwise we will need to get used to
>> >>> what
>> >>> Wall Street and the Gangsters have been peddling, the new normal or
>> >>> secular
>> >>> stagnation, where the risks they are now prevented from taking are
>> >>> foisted
>> >>> on us, as we have no other choice but to take on bubbled assets. QE
>> >>> has gone
>> >>> on too long and has caused new kind of thrift paradox wherein
>> >>> disinflation
>> >>> and deflation, compounded events such as the reshoring of jobs to
>> >>> automation, the bust of the commodities super cycle, the collapse of
>> >>> OPEC
>> >>> and oil...technological innovations....etc...keeps wages down with
>> >>> productivity and keeps consumers waiting for inflation that is never
>> >>> and
>> >>> never will be produced by low rates.
>> >>>
>> >>> Raising rates will help banks in some respects and hurt the banks in
>> >>> others, same goes for the wealthy who live off interest income and
>> >>> stock
>> >>> dividends. But it will help the workers most because it will get that
>> >>> robust
>> >>> economy, 3-4% on track.
>> >>>
>> >>> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 3:07 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Key point:  " As Jordan Weissmann at Slate points out, the entire
>> >>>> argument doesn’t make a lot of sense, as “relatively few households
>> >>>> actually
>> >>>> survive on interest income.” Most ordinary people would benefit a lot
>> >>>> more
>> >>>> from a robust economy than a higher interest rate on their savings
>> >>>> account,
>> >>>> but Nader seems to assume a nation of people living on investments
>> >>>> rather
>> >>>> than on paychecks, which really undermines his
>> >>>> spokesman-for-the-working-class schtick."
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Raising interest rates will only help the Banks and the rich.  What
>> >>>> we
>> >>>> really need is a massive increase of Federal spending to boost the
>> >>>> economy,
>> >>>> and/or a big boost in the minimum wage, to increase demand.  But,
>> >>>> failing
>> >>>> that, at least keep money cheap.  Increasing interest rates is insane
>> >>>> when
>> >>>> the economy is sluggish and inflation is zero.  A really simple
>> >>>> point.  All
>> >>>> the rest is shuck and jive.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> David Morris
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 12:38 PM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com>
>> >>>> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> I don't know much about RN's relationships with female academics or
>> >>>>> their husbands but he may still claim to be supporting both a rate
>> >>>>> hike by
>> >>>>> the Fed and working people, the poor, and the retired, most of whom
>> >>>>> are not
>> >>>>> rich but nevertheless, live on investments, the great portion of
>> >>>>> which is in
>> >>>>> fixed income securities.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> One need only give Nader the benefit of the broken Phillip's Curve.
>> >>>>> There are a growing number of economists who now contend that the
>> >>>>> continuance of the zero bound policy is hurting the economy and
>> >>>>> working
>> >>>>> people because, while unemployment has been driven down to near
>> >>>>> NAIRU by Fed
>> >>>>> policy, it will nothing to lift wages and will cost, not only those
>> >>>>> retired
>> >>>>> to live on less, but those close to retirement to work longer
>> >>>>> because
>> >>>>> investment in safe retirement assets is discouraged while bubbles
>> >>>>> are made
>> >>>>> an popped, and, while those indebted must pay off loans with
>> >>>>> non-inflated
>> >>>>> wages.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> The Fed has a triple mandate, though the press and the Fed and
>> >>>>> Congress
>> >>>>> confuse things by calling it a duel mandate. The third part is
>> >>>>> rates. The
>> >>>>> Fed is charged with keeping rates in a range that promotes growth.
>> >>>>> It's no
>> >>>>> doing that now. It is fixated on the Phillips curve model and it's
>> >>>>> not
>> >>>>> working now. JY did well to focus on the unemployed and the
>> >>>>> participation
>> >>>>> rate and the quit rate etc..., in other words, employment and wages,
>> >>>>> and
>> >>>>> ignore inflation. She should continue with that plan. The Fed can't
>> >>>>> fight
>> >>>>> the world. At this point, RN is on to something....lift rates to
>> >>>>> help the
>> >>>>> working people.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 9:18 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>> >>>>> wrote:
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Ralph Nader, epic mansplainer, tells Janet Yellen to listen to her
>> >>>>>> husband.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> http://www.salon.com/2015/11/02/ralph_nader_epic_mansplainer_tells_janet_yellen_to_listen_to_her_husband/
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Apparently, Ralph Nader is still talking, though in a way that
>> >>>>>> certainly inspires a deep desire to go to Tumblr to find as many
>> >>>>>> “shut up”
>> >>>>>> gifs as one can find. Over the weekend, Nader published a
>> >>>>>> nonsensical piece
>> >>>>>> at the Huffington Post complaining that “humble savers” are getting
>> >>>>>> screwed
>> >>>>>> by the Federal Reserve’s unwillingness to raise the interest rate,
>> >>>>>> which
>> >>>>>> Nader seems to think is an elaborate plot to help the rich banks at
>> >>>>>> the
>> >>>>>> expense of working people.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> As Jordan Weissmann at Slate points out, the entire argument
>> >>>>>> doesn’t
>> >>>>>> make a lot of sense, as “relatively few households actually survive
>> >>>>>> on
>> >>>>>> interest income.” Most ordinary people would benefit a lot more
>> >>>>>> from a
>> >>>>>> robust economy than a higher interest rate on their savings
>> >>>>>> account, but
>> >>>>>> Nader seems to assume a nation of people living on investments
>> >>>>>> rather than
>> >>>>>> on paychecks, which really undermines his
>> >>>>>> spokesman-for-the-working-class
>> >>>>>> schtick.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >
>
>
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l